Guitar Hero sales still in decline

Sales figures have revealed that Activision's latest Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, has suffered from poor sales in its first week of US sales, despite Activision's attempts to rejuvenate the brand with a stronger campaign mode.

According to Cowen & Company figures, via CVG, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has only shifted 86,000 copies across all formats - a massive drop compared to previous titles.

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock still represents the highpoint for the series, selling 1.4 million copies in just five days. Sales have been dropping since then; in 2008 Guitar Hero: World Tour sold 500,000 in it's seven days, while 2009's Guitar Hero 5 took a month to sell 499,000 copies.

The figures fit with Cowen & Company's 2009 prediction that interest in music games would continue to wane after Guitar Hero 3.

'Guitar Hero III likely attracted a lot of one-time buyers (that have not returned for subsequent franchise instalments) due to its 'it-game' status at the time," said analyst Doug Creutz.

Music game competitor Harmonix, which developed EA's Rock Band, has stalwartly dismissed concerns that the music game genre is in decline. Earlier this year CEO Alex Rigopulos told Eurogamer 'I absolutely do not believe that rhythm-action gaming has reached its peak.'

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock didn't fare too badly at the hands of critics, despite the poor sales. We gave it 7/10 in our Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review earlier this month.